Three Guys Around a Campfire
Posted: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
by Donovan Baldwin
No Diet 4 Me
Accountants and economists sometimes look askance at each other.
Accountants (my degree is in accounting), sometimes tend to feel that they are in touch with the actual flow and activities of money, while economists are mere theoreticians. Economists, who deal with a lot of conjecture and modeling of possible outcomes, feel that accountants don't see the whole picture because they are concentrating on some tree within the forest of the economy.
We (accountants) used to tell a joke about economists to illustrate our point of view.
Three college professors went on a camping trip. They were a chemistry professor, a physics professor, and an economics professor.
The first night, deep in the woods, miles away from civilization, hungry and tired, they built a fire and set about fixing dinner. Looking through their backpacks, they found that they had all packed cans of beans, each assuming that the other would bring something else, I suppose.
A little more research revealed that none had thought to bring a can opener, Swiss Army Knife, or even a screwdriver.
They had no way to open the cans of beans.
After a while, the chemist spoke, "If we put the can of beans in the fire, in accordance with Boyle's Law, the gases will expand and blow the can open."
"Yes, but that will also blast the beans all over the place and we won't really be able to eat them.", said the economist.
After a pause, the physicist spoke up, "Well, I know all about vectors and forces, and I have computed that if we bring the can down on a sharp rock with great force, we can split the can open."
Again, the economist objected, "That will scatter the beans also. Your ideas will get the can open but will cause us to lose the beans!"
Angrily, both the chemist and the physicist challenged the economist and told him that if he didn't have a solution to their problem, he should keep his educated trap shut. To this, he replied that he had already solved the problem!
They looked at him with amazement and both cried, "Elucidate, elucidate, mon frere!"
That's how college professors talk, right?
Anyway, he nodded his head, leaned back against a rock, lit his pipe, and began...
"First, let us assume the can is open..."
As I listen to many of our political leaders, as well as the pundits who comment on THEIR comments, I am struck by how often they seem to confuse discussing an issue, creating an "action committee", or even enacting a law as actually solving the problem.
None of us do that, right?
After all, we do not have the luxury of assuming that the can is open or that someone else has brought the can opener. We may be the ones who need to get up off the couch and DO something to make a situation better...maybe even before it has a chance to get worse.
Not a problem. We always make sure we have a can opener, sleeping bag, tent, and, hopefully, something more than beans to eat, on this camping trip called "life"...I hope.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Donovan Baldwin is a 65-year-old accountant, amateur bodybuilder, freelance writer, certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the Atlanta, Gerogia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer for a major international corporation, and has managed various small businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has posted a series of articles on The Law of Attraction , and other self-improvement issues at xtramoney4me.net/internetmarketing/reviews/law_of_attraction_articles/index.html .
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)That's a funny joke, ha ha! I think a lot of people confuse "doing" with "thinking about doing". The latter is nice and easy, no real immediate consequences for the thinkers to deal with. Of course everybody depending on them goes hungry!
Good story Donovan, with a wise message.
Hello Jennifer and David, I can only say that I "thought about" that article for years before actually writing it....and I'M an accountant!!! :)
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